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poor

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also:Poorandpöör

English

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EnglishWikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

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Inherited fromMiddle Englishpovre,povere, fromOld French (andAnglo-Norman)povre,poure, fromLatinpauper, fromOld Latin*pavo-pars(literally“getting little”), fromProto-Indo-European*peh₂w-(“few, small”).Doublet ofpauper.

Displaced nativearm,wantsome,Middle Englishunlede(“poor”) (fromOld Englishunlǣde),Middle Englishunweli, unwely(“poor, unwealthy”) (from Old Englishun- +weliġ(“well-to-do, prosperous, rich”)).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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poor (comparativepoorer,superlativepoorest)

  1. With no or fewpossessions ormoney, particularly in relation to contemporaries who do have them.
    Synonyms:seeThesaurus:impoverished
    Antonyms:rich,wealthy
    We were sopoor that we couldn't afford shoes.
    • 1593, anonymous author,The Life and Death of Iacke Straw […],Act I:
      England is growne to ſuch a paſſe of late,
      That rich men triumph to ſee thepoore beg at their gate.
    • 1957 [1944],Karl Polanyi,The Great Transformation, Beacon Press: Boston,page167:
      When Owenism and Chartism had burned themselves out, England had becomepoorer by that substance out of which the Anglo-Saxon ideal of a free society could have been built up for centuries to come.
    • 2014, George W. Norton,Hunger and Hope: Escaping Poverty and Achieving Food Security in Developing ...‎[1]:
      Thepoorest of thepoor are truly destitute, with so few assets they are basically shackless.
    • 2016 January 14, Jessica Hall, “Nanoengineers build 'microcannons' that fire light-up bullets filled with drugs”, inExtremeTech‎[2], archived fromthe original on24 February 2024:
      Durable goods can be cost-effective but make great disease vectors, and disposables like syringes and needles can be a problem in thepoorest places, where there's desperate need of vaccines for diseases like polio. That's where the UCSD scientists come in.
    • 2017 July 12, Jay L. Zagorsky, Patricia Smith, “No, poor people don’t eat the most fast food”, inCNN‎[3], archived fromthe original on9 March 2024:
      Because it’s considered relatively inexpensive, there’s an assumption thatpoor people eat more fast food than other socioeconomic groups – which has convinced some local governments to try to limit their access.[…] The data showed becoming richer orpoorer didn’t have much effect at all on how often people ate fast food.
  2. Oflowquality.
    Synonym:inferior
    Antonym:good
    That was apoor performance.
    • 1918,W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, inThe Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.:The Bobbs-Merrill Company,→OCLC:
      He looked round thepoor room, at the distempered walls, and the bad engravings in meretricious frames, the crinkly paper and wax flowers on the chiffonier; and he thought of a room like Father Bryan's, with panelling, with cut glass, with tulips in silver pots, such a room as he had hoped to have for his own.
    • 2021 March 28, “Taiwan News Quick Take”, inTaipei Times‎[4],→ISSN,→OCLC, archived fromthe original on27 March 2021, Taiwan News, page 3‎[5]:
      Meanwhile, due to a lack of wind, air quality in west Taiwan waspoor yesterday, the Environmental Protection Administration said. Air quality could deteriorate early this morning, triggering a “red” alert — which signals unhealthy air quality — in some parts of Yunlin, Chiayi and Tainan counties, it said.
  3. (attributive only) Worthy ofpity.
    Synonym:pitiable
    Oh, youpoor thing, you're drenched!
    Thispoor little puppy got a nasty snake bite.
    • 1913,Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter I, inThe Lodger, London:Methuen,→OCLC; republished inNovels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.:Longmans, Green and Co., […],[1933],→OCLC,page0056:
      Thanks to that penny he had just spent so recklessly [on a newspaper] he would pass a happy hour, taken, for once, out of his anxious, despondent, miserable self. It irritated him shrewdly to know that these moments of respite from carking care would not be shared with hispoor wife, with careworn, troubled Ellen.
    • 1963,Margery Allingham, chapter 15, inThe China Governess: A Mystery, London:Chatto & Windus,→OCLC:
      Mr. Campion sighed. ‘Poor man,’ he said. ‘He sees his great sacrifices rejected by the gods, and so, no doubt, all the Misses Eumenides let loose again to plague him.’
  4. Deficient in a specified way.
    Antonym:rich
    Cow's milk ispoor in iron.
  5. Inadequate,insufficient.
    Antonyms:adequate,decent
    I received apoor reward for all my hard work.
    • a.1686, Benjamin Calamy,Sermon 1:
      That I have wronged no Man, will be apoor plea or apology at the last day.
    • 1902, John Buchan,The Outgoing of the Tide:
      The temptation was more than mortal heart could resist. She gave him the promise he sought, stifling the voice of conscience; and as she clung to his neck it seemed to her that heaven was apoor thing compared with a man's love.
  6. Free from self-assertion; notproud or arrogant;meek.

Derived terms

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Related terms

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Translations

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with few or no possessions or money—see alsobroke
of low quality
used to express pity—see alsopitiful,‎unfortunate
deficient in a specified way—see alsodeficient
inadequate, insufficient
free from self-assertion; not proud or arrogant
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Noun

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poor pl (plural only)

  1. (with the) Thepoorpeople of asociety or theworldcollectively, thepoorclass of asociety.
    • 1611,The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […],→OCLC,Matthew26:8-11:
      ...when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste? For this ointment mighthauebin sold for much, andgiuen to thepoore. WhenIesusvnderstood it, he saidvnto them, Why troubleye the woman? for she hath wrought a goodworkevpon me. Foryehaue thepoorealwayes with you, but meyehaue notalwayes.
    • 1971,Lyndon Johnson,The Vantage Point‎[6],Holt, Reinhart & Winston,→ISBN,→LCCN,→OCLC,page39:
      Harry Truman used to say that 13 or 14 million Americans had their interests represented in Washington, but that the rest of the people had to depend on the President of the United States. That is how I felt about the 35 million Americanpoor. They had no voice and no champion. Whatever the cost, I was determined to represent them. Through me they would have an advocate and, I believed, new hope.
    • 1972, Anonymous translation ofFriedrich Engels as "Draft of a Communist Confession of Faith", International Publishers:
      Then there have not always beenproletarians?
      No. There have always beenpoor andworking classes; and those who worked were almost always thepoor. But there have not always beenproletarians, just as competition has not always been free.
    • 1983 December 24, Andrea Loewenstein, “"What's Freedom Without Food In Your Stomach?" — A Trip to Haiti”, inGay Community News, volume11, number23, page 8:
      He is glad to see me and tells me that during his absence from the parish one of the women beggars died. Usually in these cases the state comes and takes the body away in a bag, to incinerate, but this time, because of his teachings, the otherpoor decided that she deserved a real funeral.
    • 2010 Jan. 27,Matt Taibbi, "Populism: Just Like Racism!",True/Slant:
      This is the sameRandianbullshit that we've been hearing from people likeBrooks for ages and its entire premise is really revolting and insulting—this idea that the way society works is that the productive "rich" feed the needy "poor," and that any attempt by the latter to punish the former for "excesses" might inspireAtlas to Shrug his wayout of town and leave the helplesspoor on their own to starve. That's basicallyBrooks's entire argument here. Yes, therich and powerful do rig the game in their own favor, and yes, they are guilty of "excesses"—but fuckingdeal with it, if you want to eat.
    The sun shines on therich and thepoor alike but, come the rain, therich have better umbrellas.
    Thepoor are always with us.
    The rich are often so insulated from reality that they thinkthe poor have extra money they could save for more than a short time.
  2. (card games) the second-to-last placer inTycoon
    Antonym:rich

Translations

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the poor people of a society or the world collectively, the poor class of a society

Noun

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poor (pluralpoors)

  2. (countable, originally chiefly Scotland) Apoorperson.
    Thepoors are at it again.
    • 1340, Laurent du Bois, translated byDan Michel,Ayenbite of Inwyt, page195:
      ...me vint of ane king to huam apoure acsede ane peny...
    • 1625, Thomas Jackson,A Treatise Containing the Originall of Vnbeliefe,Pt. v, Ch. xvi, §6:
      He had given somewhat to everypoore in the Parish.
    • 2018 May 28, Joel Edelman, “Primary election 2018 coverage for the deaf”, inToday's featured shit‎[7]:
      So what happened? It’s fun to point the finger. Some say it was thepoors, or the uneducateds, or even the third-party voters. No matter the scenario, it’s always fun to blame someone else and throw up your hands (while a finger on each is pointed of course).
    • 2023, James Sandoval, “Buying Happiness”, inBut A Jape‎[8] (webcomic):
      I don't understand, Simmons! I have all the money in the world, but I'm still unhappy![…] It must be thepoors! Those leeches have been stealing my happiness somehow!
  3. (obsolete)Synonym ofpoor cod.

Usage notes

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The countable sense ofpoor, despite having a long history and continuing existence in some Scottish dialects, is now generally parsed as nonstandard slang and frequently employed with ironic condescension as a critique of supposed upper-class views towards the poor.

Derived terms

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Translations

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poor person

Verb

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poor (third-person singular simple presentpoors,present participlepooring,simple past and past participlepoored)

  1. (transitive, rare)Synonym ofimpoverish, tomakepoor.
    • 2003 August 10,Dallas News, p. 3:
      It is very evident that Americans are being ‘poored down’ to suit the world socialist agenda, and to maximize profits for the international corporations.
  2. (intransitive, obsolete) Tobecomepoor.
  3. (obsolete) Tocallpoor.

Usage notes

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Although having a long and chiefly Scottish history, verbal use ofpoor is now generally parsed as a nonstandard innovation and employed within quotes.

Translations

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to make poor
to become poor
to call poor
  • Bulgarian:please add this translation if you can

References

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Anagrams

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Limburgish

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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FromWalloonporea.

Noun

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poor m

  1. leek

Old French

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Noun

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pooroblique singular, f (oblique pluralpoors,nominative singularpoor,nominative pluralpoors)

  1. fear
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